Movie of the Week: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

A continuation of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", it takes place many years into the future, where humans were thought to be extinct and apes rule as the dominant race. The movie revolves around the struggle that Caesar and the other apes deal with when they are re-introduced to humankind. This struggle then turns into all-out battle against the humans in pursuit of power led by Koba, an ape who had usurped Caesar as leader of the apes.

This movie had a lot more action in it when compared to its prequel as it was more focused on the conflict between each character rather than on character development. It was also quite dark, both in lighting and in nature. For the lighting, there were many scenes that were shot at night or in a dark area, which made it a bit difficult to see what was happening. For the nature of the film, there were times when the scene would be centered around joy and laughter, and would suddenly change to hate, anger, and even murder.

As a fan of the first film, I really liked how the sequel was made. The pacing of the story was a bit slow, but it had a good plot. What got me the most though was that despite using many computer-generated graphics, and the fact that the apes were talking in incomplete and sometimes incoherent sentences for most of the film, the emotions of the apes were still shown and emphasized.

If you liked the first film, I highly recommend that you watch this one if you haven't already.

- Lee Balmaceda, 12-F

The review was written by Karlos Dawang of 10-A.

Summary: A couple years after the near destruction of Chicago, the Transformers face backlash from the world and go into hiding. A down-on-his-luck father and his daughter then find a transformer and their lives are changed forever.

Review: What people really expect from a Transformers movie is a fun action movie with giant robots, good special effects, and the chance to turn off their brains for some action and large spectacle. So it is very disappointing that what we get after 3 tries is a long boring movie with dumb humor, only a few entertaining action sequences, and an extreme overuse of explosions and special effects that at times looks worse than the first movie. 

The movie's worst problem is its length. Clocking in at about 2 hours and 40 minutes, the tolerance for the movie's problems nosedives at about the 1 hour-30 minute mark. The plot starts off reasonably well, but as the movie progresses, more elements just keep getting added in and the plot becomes this huge mess. 

The characters don't fare better. Mark Wahlberg's character is just a generic hero type; his daughter is a typical teen that gets on your nerves as the movie goes on. The Transformers get a new team of characters that feel mostly expendable but some get a few pretty fun moments. Bumblebee really feels like a side character and Optimus Prime should be in the movie more. And of course the Dinobots , which received heavy promotion, are in the movie for about 10 minutes and they did not feel significant. 

The special effects are shockingly obvious at times. There are moments when it is painfully obvious the actors are in front of a green screen. The movie also has a lot of explosions and destruction, and in a 2 hour-40 minute movie, it gets old and boring really fast. After a while, you just become dulled to explosions. They become loud noises and flashy lights instead of adding to the spectacle.

Many of the problems I have stated have been problems in the previous movies, so if you can get past these, then perhaps you will like the movie. However, the movie's running time and its special effects blunders cannot be forgiven. One also can't help but get the feeling of been there, done that.

                                                                              AM+DG
                                                                      1  Ali  Aldaba  1-C
                                                                      
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                                                                       SPOILER  ALERT:

                     The  following  statements  are  my  opinions  and  thoughts  on  the  aforementioned  film. 

Honestly,  I  would  rate  the  frightening  scenes  3  out  of  10.  I say  so  because  I  only

felt  fear  in  anticipation  of  what  would  appear  and  scare  me.  When  the  scary  scene  itself 

happens  however,  I  did  not  feel  terrified  as  I expected  myself  to  be. 

          I  would  rate  the  film  an  overall  rating  of  7  out  of  10.  I say  so  because  of   the  scenes  that  occurred  in  the  near  ending  of  the  film’s  rising  action.  What  occurred  in  those  particular  scenes  were  two  main  characters  and  two  other  supporting  characters  risking  themselves  in  an  attempt  to  rescue  the  main  protagonist  who  was  abducted  by  Satanic  witches.  Their  attempts  in  doing  so  involved  breaking  into  the  house  where  the  protagonist  was  being  held  and  even  murdering  witches  who  were  guarding  the  house  with  weapons. 

          Specifically,  my  favorite  part  of  the  whole  film  was  in  the  near- climax.  That  part

was  when  one  of  the  two  main  characters  begins  searching  for  the  other  main  character,  a  girl, 

and  finds  her  falling  from  and  through  the  house’s  ceiling  to  her  death  on  the  floor. 

                       I  would  say  that  this  film  was  a  fine  installment  in  the  series  because  it  exhibited

some,  if  not  a  lot, of violence,  one  of  the  qualities  I  search  for  in  horror  films.